Has Chelsea Shown Us How to Beat Barcelona - and Spain?

It wasn't pretty but it was effective - and contrary to those critics who said it was otherwise, it was football and Chelsea deserved to win the tie for playing to their strengths, playing to the conditions, and playing the right tactics.

For that, di Matteo deserves credit and the best reward of them all - a contract as permanent manager at Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.

The one masterstroke for me was sticking with playing a forward even when they were down to 10 men. Ok there was an element of luck when Messi blasted his penalty against the cross-bar early in the 2nd half after Drogba brought Messi down with a rash tackle but you have to credit di Matteo for sticking with the positive approach after that when he could have so easily taken off Drogba and got on a more defensive minded player.

Mind you he was also not helped by the fact that Bosingwa had to already come on for an injury Gary Cahill. However, Drogba did come off for Torres even with the tie delicately poised - and it paid off nicely as the forward was there to pounce on a ball that was in more space than a Japanese capsule hotel and with only Valdes to beat, score the goal that would confirm a highly unlikely Final place for Chelsea.
 

But that was just one aspect of a highly impressive defensive display by Chelsea and Roberto di Matteo who along with Mourinho and Real Madrid may have shown the world over the last week or so how to beat the previously unbeatable Barcelona - a compact midfield with quick, athletic players who can run up and down the pitch to cover the space and then hit Barca on the counter-attack quickly, exposing a key weakness that is the Barca defence.

Perhaps, they may have shown the world how to beat Spain - after all the European and world champions are comprised mostly of Barcelona players who have brought the Barcelona passing game to the national team. In fact, England's 1-0 friendly win over Spain may have been a sneak preview to what Chelsea and Real Madrid have done to Barcelona in their last 2 games.

So Germany and the Netherlands may have to ditch their fast passing games and play the anti-Spain to beat them. Really they may have to play like Real Madrid and Chelsea have to win EURO 2012. I note that Ireland and Italy are the sides you'd expect to play the dour, park-the-bus-in-front-of-the-goal game but they don't quite have the calibre of players capable of matching Spain's incredible midfield.

Mind you, I'd be sad when Spain lose as they have been a treat to watch in the last 5 years. But of course, it's good when a side steps up to beat the champions.